


Anguish

by zarabithia



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Dark, Community: dcu_freeforall, Community: yj_anon_meme, Episode: s01e09 Bereft, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-28
Updated: 2011-04-28
Packaged: 2017-10-18 18:14:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/191787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zarabithia/pseuds/zarabithia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The end of Young Justice was pretty pitiful.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Anguish

Her first impulse was to run to Superboy. She could hear him - could see him being _tortured_ and could hear his pain, screaming inside of her head. It was a low, guttural sound, something close to _please help_. It had nothing to do with how she felt for him - though those emotions were there, too. But for a telepath, the scream was crowding out everything else.

As a hero, she wanted nothing more than to fly away and rescue him, to make that screaming stop.

But she remembered what J'onn had told her. "Sometimes, our gifts made it hard to focus on what the truly right course of action."

Robin grabbed her hand and protested, "Kaldur is going to die if we don't get him to the ship soon. Superboy is invincible. Kaldur isn't."

Superboy didn't feel invincible. Not right now.

But Robin was more experienced than she, and as loud as Superboy's mental anguish was, Kaldur's anguish was crying out, too. It was weaker, though, much weaker.

In a moment of indecision, she chose Kaldur. The others, they decided, would go after Superboy, because what kind of team would allow him to suffer without attempting to help?

-

They made it to the ship just fine.

M'gann spent time re-hydrating Kaldur. He really was weak, and she was certain that she had done the right thing.

She was also trying so desperately to block out Superboy's cries, which were growing louder by the minute.

M'gann had never been tortured, but she supposed that was a perfectly normal response to repeatedly being _violated._

Her hand was in the middle of wiping Kaldur's brow when the mental anguish became so severe that she was no longer able to block it.

By the time she was able to once again concentrate, M'gann realized, with growing horror, that it wasn't just Superboy's anguish she was feeling through the link.

-

She flew faster than she had have flown before.

For Kid Flash, it was enough.

For the others, it wasn't.

-

Neither she, Kaldur, or Wally had seen Superboy since she gave him his memories back.

M'gann understood that much. It might not have been his fault, but it had been _his hands_ that had taken Robin and Artemis's lives. He'd never forgive himself, and truth be told, M'gann wasn't sure she could forgive herself, either.

As the telepath, she should have gone after Superboy. That much was obvious now, and part of M'gann wondered how it could ever have _not_ been obvious, to anyone.

-

The end of Young Justice was pretty pitiful. Batman didn't bother to show, not that anyone blamed him. The Flash was still trying to deal with Wally's loss, so he didn't show either.

Robin had been Wally's best friend. The adults thought he wasn't healing as fast as he should; M'gann worried more that he would _never_ get over it.

So, in the end, it was only Kaldur and M'gann who listened to the speech that Black Canary, Aquaman, Uncle J'onn and Red Tornado gave.

"You're too young."

"This is for your own good."

"We should have thought this through more carefully before sending children out to do an adult's job."

"We don't want to lose any more of you."

They were all good words and M'gann wished she could find comfort in them. She wished she could find comfort in anything, at this point.

-

Roy came by as M'gann was cleaning out her things. She heard him, and pretended she didn't. She pretended that his sadness in Robin's room and his anger in Artemis' room were not broadcast all over the entire cave.

But she walked by Artemis's room - barely used as it was, since Artemis had never lived here - and saw Roy sitting on the bed, Artemis' unused arrows in his hands.

He glanced up at her, and she fully expected his typical anger. Instead, she received only sadness. "I could have been a friend to her," he said, "if I hadn't been wrapped up in my own bullshit. I could have -" his voice broke. "I could have joined this damn team and kept Robin safe. He always was such a tiny little squirt."

M'gann sat gently on the bed beside him and reached for his hand. He pulled away at first, but then shrugged and grasped her hand, clinging with all his might. "There are regrets enough to go around," she said quietly.

They sat for a long time, before Roy spoke again. "I've met others...like us in my travels," he said softly. "We can't...we won't let this team die. You, me, Kaldur. Wally, too, if he can handle it. We can't let it go. It meant too much to Robin. Probably Artemis, too."

"The League - "

"To hell with the League," Roy said angrily, and M'gann thought that some things never changed. "Robin and Artemis sacrificed their _lives_ for this team. Wally and Superboy might be permanently crazy because of it. Something that important? You don't give up. Promise me, M'gann."

It was the last promise she had ever expected to make to Roy Harper, and it was the first time in a long time that M'gann had felt any hope.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the following prompt at yj_anon_meme: Because the bullshit sexism on tumblr is driving me crazy. Write me an alternative to tonight's episode ("Bereft"), where M'gann was a "good girl" and saved Kaldur instead of going after Superboy. Since every action has consequences, Superboy gets free and kills people (without his memory and all.) The League deals by splitting up the team.
> 
> Also fills the following prompts: "death" @ dcu_freeforall & "pain" @ Women Are Awesome challenge.


End file.
